Home
by ColdHeartBeat
Summary: Lana Mills thought her only problem would be finding a place to live after she ages out of the group home, never had she thought that turning into a vampire and trying not to suck everyone dry would be her biggest problem. After being found by Carlisle Cullen, who offers to help her adjust to her new life, she starts to fall for his son, and the feeling might be mutual. Edward/Oc
1. Prologue

Prologue

"That one is my favorite!" Hannah said, pointing at one of the pictures in the row. Lana picked it up and smiled, it was also one of her favorites. The photograph was taken back in autumn; it was of a lone swing in the park not too far from where the orphanage was. It had just rained that day and she could see the red and orange leafed trees being reflected by the puddles on the asphalt.

Lana held it out towards Hannah, "here."

Hannah's eyes widened, "you're giving it to me?" She asked.

Lana shrugged before grinning, "Yeah, I am." She shook the picture in front of Hannah's face. "Now take it before I change my mind."

Hannah tentatively took the photo from Lana's grasp and looked at it in awe before raises an eyebrow, "you're not doing this because you think that you're going to be kicked out right?"

Lana froze and took a deep breath; she brushed a few strands of her brown hair behind her ear, not looking at Hannah. "It's inevitable."

"No, it's not." Hannah narrowed her eyes, "they're not just going to kick you out."

Lana turned towards her. "Hannah, I'm almost eighteen. The orphanage won't keep me here when I turn eighteen. I'll be _homeless_."

"They can't do that!"

Lana had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Hanna was only fourteen. She still had a chance; a chance to be adopted, a chance to find somewhere to live. Hannah had many friends who let her sleep at their houses all the time, surely one of them would let her live with them if she doesn't get adopted by the time she is eighteen. Lana didn't have that choice. The closest things to friends Lana had were Hannah and the elderly man at the shop where Lana gets new lenses for her camera.

"Yes, they can." Lana turned and grabbed her camera. She shoved it in her old leather satchel and threw it over her shoulder.

"Where are you going?"

"Out," Lana didn't bother to say goodbye as she walked out of the room she shared with Hannah. She knew that Hannah bring up their conversation again when she came back but at the moment she didn't want to hear it.

When she reached the forest almost a mile from the orphanage, Lana began to slow down.

It wasn't as if Lana was completely numb to the fact that in a few months she would be added to the percentage of homeless people state but she already knew that nothing would change that fate. Sure when she was younger she used to think that she would meet some great family that would take her in and treat her like their own but after she turned sixteen, she gave up on the idea. Barely anyone adopted teenagers and nobody would adopt a girl so close to being a legal adult.

College wasn't even an option for Lana. She had no money and she just barely managed to graduate high school, so she couldn't even get a scholarship.

Taking out her camera, she angled it to catch a small bird flying from a tree branch. Snapping a few photos of flowers, trees, and even her own hand, Lana continued to walk. It was very silent as she walked; she was going farther than she had ever gone before whenever she went on her walks. She stopped when she heard leaves shuffling for only a moment, her heartbeat sped up. She was used to hearing birds chirping and deer's gallivanting but today was just so quiet; too quiet.

Hands grabbed her, the camera fell from her hand and she barely had time to scream when she felt the most painful sensation in her neck.


	2. Chapter 1

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the prologue, thank you everyone who marked this to their favorites and who followed this so far. I love you all. I know that this is a bit short but it's only the first chapter and it's really just to get a feel of what is going on in the Cullen household and where they are living. Yes, this is pre-Twilight. They are in Oregon now and it'll be a dozen or so chapters before they move to Forks. Please give me ideas on where you want this to go and what you would like to see in this story, I'd love to hear from you guys.**

* * *

Chapter One

"It's so quiet." Esme said, sitting on a leather couch in the library of her home. Carlisle nodded his head; the quiet wasn't something that they were use to, especially with seven teenagers usually bustling around. The boys were constantly breaking things while the girls argued about which overpriced clothing designer was better. It felt very foreign to have the house so quiet.

"I miss them." Esme whispered her voice lined with sadness. Four of her children, as she liked to call them, had gone off to live with their spouses. Rosalie and Emmett were in Manhattan for the next few months or so while Alice and Jasper were off in Paris. It was one of the few times where Esme and Carlisle were living so far away from humanity. The house they currently inhabited was much smaller than the houses they usually lived in but Esme had to admit it was one of her favorite homes. It was a two story house in Oregon with large windows and four bedrooms. Something simple for the three of them to live comfortably and not in each other's personal space too much.

"They will come back." Carlisle said, wrapping an arm around her.

Esme nodded, she knew they would all come back eventually but she was also worried about her youngest son, Edward, who is also her oldest. While his siblings were all out enjoying life as couples, Edward was in his room. Sometimes Esme wonders if he's how deeply of being the only member of their family without a mate bothers him. Even if he never expresses it, she knows it bothers him, being surrounded by all the love mates give one another, being able to hear it, yet not being give that love to someone else and not receiving that kind of love back.

Carlisle stood and held out a hand to her, "would you like to come hunting with me, my dear?"

^H^O^M^E^

Esme stood, wiping any remaining traces of blood from her lips with her fingers. She watched as Carlisle buried the last of the elks they had just finished draining.

She looked up at the sky. The sun was going to come out soon. Two small birds flew up above, weaving through the air in perfect harmony, never leaving the other too far behind.

"Do you think Edward is ever going to find his mate?" She asked, still looking at the birds as they disappeared into the distance.

Carlisle looked at her as he wiped dirt off of his hands. "You worry too much over such things," He walked over and wrapped his arms around her. "Edward will find his mate when the time comes for him to. Remember, it did take me over two hundred years to find you."

Esme smiled and leaned forward to kiss him when they heard a piercing scream. The scream sounded miles off but taking a whiff of the air, they could just barely catch the scent of a vampire. Looking at her husband, Esme nodded slowly and they both took off to the direction they heard the scream. It was far from where the hiking trails were meaning the vampire must have been attacking a human.

When they arrived, they saw the back of a pale man wearing nothing but a dirty pair of pants. His bare feet dug into the ground as he held a struggling girl in his grasp. He turned and looked at them for only a quick moment with dark red eyes before releasing the girl and taking off.

Esme ran towards the girl and dropped to her knees. Carlisle appeared by her side, "she's already going through the transformation." The girl whimpered, her eyes –wet with unshed tears- were only half open as she stared up at Esme and Carlisle. Esme brushed the girl's wavy brown hair out of her face and stared sadly at her.

"We can't just leave her hear, who knows what will become of her if we do." Esme said.

"I know," Carlisle nodded. "It would be far too dangerous to leave a newborn to wake alone with no guidance."

With a nod and a small smile, Esme let Carlisle lift the girl into his arms and they ran back to their home.

Edward was standing by the door, his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl marring his features. "Carlisle," He said in a low voice. Esme was almost reminded of back when Carlisle had arrived with a broken Rosalie to their home.

_I was not the one to change her_; Carlisle let his thoughts play out for Edward as he ran upstairs to an empty room the house. The room was not as large as the Edward's or Carlisle and Esme's room but it had soft colors with thick curtains.

"Why did you bring her back here, though?" Edward asked, barely taking the time to glance at the girl as Carlisle laid her of the floor. She was screaming and writhing in pain, both hands scratching the bite mark on her neck. Edward grimaced as he looked through her thoughts; she was in just as much pain as anyone else going through the change would be in, if not more.

"Edward," Esme admonish. "We couldn't leave her out there on her own."

"How are we going to handle a newborn?" Edward asked. Jasper was the one with the most newborn experience than any of them; he would've been able to handle it better than them.

"Edward, I was able to handle you as a newborn and we were able to handle Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett as newborns. I'm sure the three of us can do this again." Carlisle said, giving him a firm look.

^H^O^M^E^

It's been two days since Carlisle brought the girl back to their house, and it's gotten almost quiet again. Esme has been by the girl's side for most of her change and Carlisle would come to check on the girl's progress, to which every time she saw him, she would ask him to kill her to make the pain go away. Meanwhile, Edward had quarantined himself in his room to avoid anything that had to do with the soon-to-be newborn.

"She's going to wake soon," Carlisle muttered to himself.

Esme frowned and put her hand of the girl's forehead again, "she feels too warm."

Carlisle put his hand on the girl's arm and almost pulled away. During her entire change, the girl was warm but he thought that it was just her human warmth. Now, it was even warmer than before.

"Why do you think that is?" Esme asked, every bit as concerned with the girl's wellbeing as a mother would for her child.

Carlisle shook his head, "I'm not exactly sure." He opened his mouth to say something else but stopped when he heard the girl's heart stop beating.

"It's time." Esme whispered.

Edward appeared at the doorway, his eyes on the newborn. Her thoughts were wild as she took in her surroundings. Each crack in the ceiling, every dust mote in the air were all in her range of vision.

The girl sat up, much faster than intended. She paused for a moment and her head quickly turned towards Edward, Esme, and Carlisle. She crouched and snarled at them; Edward resisted rolling his eyes, _typical newborn behavior_. He and Carlisle had gone through all the motions, first with Esme, then with Rosalie, and with Emmett; he was sure that this girl could do nothing to surprise them.

As she stared at them with her bright red eyes, the curtains behind her erupted into flames.


	3. Chapter 2

**So this chapter deals a lot with the negativity of being a vampire, at least, from Lana's point of view. I read on Stephenie Meyer's website that when you become a vampire all of your physical traits like freckles, scars, birthmarks, etc. all go away and I started thinking of how horrible that would be if those things are actually important to you and that's what led to this chapter. This chapter was actually supposed to be mixed with the third chapter but I decided that I liked the way this ended so I cut it short. P.S. Sorry if Lana seems a bit harsh or depressed in this chapter but if you really think about it then her reactions do justify. Still, I promise that Lana won't always be such a downer; she's just going through a hard time with being an immortal bloodsucker. **

**Chapter 2**

Lana Mills wasn't the sort of person to constantly wonder about death, although in the rare moment that she had, she never imagined it to be so painful. When she was fifteen—the one time that she ever thought of dying—she had thought that she would die of old age, peacefully and in a sterile hospital room. Not in the middle of the forest feeling as if her entire body had been struck with millions of hot needles that had just been taken out of flames.

Everything burned. Her heart was beating so fast that she swore it would break out of her rib cage and rip out of her chest. Her body felt like someone had just thrown her in a cauldron of boiling water.

She could hear voices talking, a man and a woman. She was really disliked them. How dare they just stand there and talk while she was being burned alive from the inside out? How could they be so calm while she was dying?

She forced her eyes open, everything was so blurry and she could see a haze of black on the edge of her vision. The woman was by her side, holding her hand like a mother would for her sick child at the hospital.

"Please," she begged her voice hoarse. "Please, kill me. Make it go away."

The woman leaned forward slightly and brushed Lana's hair from her face. "I'm so sorry." The woman said. Lana turned her eyes away and looked at the ceiling; she wanted to scream in pain at the flames burning at her heart, she wanted to cry at the injustice of no one trying to ease it. She must have committed a truly terrible crime in a past life to have such pain bestowed upon her. Or maybe, God hated her. Did she even believe in God? Who would be so cruel to cause her such pain? Especially the man who is said to hold no hatred towards anybody.

_I'm not a bad person_, Lana thought as tears blurred her vision further. Sure, there were those few minor fights back when she was young when kids would make fun of her for being in an orphanage; and even the time when she was eleven and she put worms in the lunch of a boy who had pushed Hannah off of the swings at school but she never did anything to deserve the flames.

^H^O^M^E^

The next time Lana opened her eyes, everything was clear. The burning had stopped but she was still warm. There was an uncomfortable scratching in her throat and she grimaced as she stared up at the ceiling. She could see every tiny crack in the ceiling, and could count every mote of dust in the air.

It took her a moment to realize that she wasn't alone. She could smell three very distinctive scents. She sprung up and stared at the three strangers, two men and a woman standing a bit behind them. By some unknown instinct, Lana crouched down and snarled. The two men stood a bit closer, almost completely shielding the woman from view.

A pale, blond man took a step towards her, Lana growled deep in her throat as her body became warm.

Warmer.

Too warm.

Burning.

Lana's fist clenched in pain and she fell to her knees from her original crouching position. She looked up in time to see the shocked look on the faces of the three strangers; their mouths dropping open as their eyes widened. Turning her head, she looked back and saw flames. The thick drapes behind her were lit on fire. The dark orange flames mesmerized her; her fingers twitched to touch them but another instinct kept her from it.

She moved to the other side of the room, away from the three strangers and the burning curtains. The woman and the man with reddish hair moved fast, leaving the room and returning with two buckets of water. They each threw the water on a curtain to put the fire out.

There was a ringing coming from the pocket of the blond man, Lana's eyes snapped to it. He nodded to the other two and went downstairs to answer his phone. Lana could hear a high-pitched voiced female screaming something about visions, newborns, and fire.

She stared the other two and they stared back. A female with hair the color of caramel and a boy, or a man—she couldn't figure out which, stood just a bit in front of her.

"I am sure everything will be alright, Alice," the man was saying, Lana could hear the slight chuckle in his voice as he spoke. "We have handled newborns before; there is no need for you and Jasper to return." He paused and they could all hear the girl on the other line speaking. "Yes, I understand your concern but Edward, Esme, and I will be just fine. Take your time, and bring us back a souvenir...goodbye, Alice."

The man was back in the room and standing in front of Lana in the same second that he hung up. He gave her a kind smile and she gave him a weary look in return.

"Hello," he started, "my name is Carlisle Cullen and this is my family." He introduced them to her. The woman, Esme, gave her a soft smile while the man-boy, Edward, gave her a polite nod, though his lips were pressed in a thin line.

"What is your name?" The woman asked, her voice as kind as she appeared. Lana opened her mouth to answer when the scratching in her throat immediately changed and started to feel like there was molten lava stuck there instead; she grabbed her throat with both hands. Panicking, she started to feel warmer again. The edge of the rug began to produce a small stream of smoke.

"Lana," The man-boy said, "her name is Lana."

She looked up with startled eyes, wondering how he knew her name. They stared at each other for the longest time before the blond, Carlisle, moved forward, blocking her view the redhead. "Well Lana, would you like to take a walk with me?" He asked.

Lana stared at him, not completely trusting. He seemed kind enough although it could easily be a ruse. She looked out of the window which was half covered by the wet burnt curtains and nodded once. While she particularly didn't want to go anywhere with him, Lana did love being outside. And if he tried anything, she just could do to him what she did to the curtains; that is, if she ever figures out how she did it. He smiled at her and walked past the two others with Lana slowly following him.

She didn't know how long they walked before he stopped. Lana stared at the back of his head as she rubbed her neck with her hand, she felt ready to kill someone just to make the burning go away.

"Do you hear that?" Carlisle asked, turning towards her. Lana raised an eyebrow and listened. She could hear a stream; she could hear leaves brushing against one another as the wind blows, birds singing in the trees not too far away. It all sounded so beautiful, so peaceful…that is, before she heard it; the quiet _thu-thump _followed by another and another and so on. She took a deep breath and her eyes darkened considerably.

"Just follow your new instincts." She could hear Carlisle say before she lost all sense of who she was.

^H^O^M^E^

Lana stared at her bloodied hands in horror as she walked a few feet behind Carlisle. She's just killed four elks, those poor things. The burning in her throat was now reduced to an uncomfortable tingle, apparently that's as good as it gets deinking animal blood. While walking, she listened as Carlisle continued to explain what she became, how his family lives, and how he and his wife found her.

Drinking animal blood, she thought with a frown. She's always considered herself an animal lover, being a vegetarian since the age of eight with only one slip up. She's only had meat once since she was eight, it was just a year after her parents died and she was sent to the orphanage. One of the women there had made a soup with small pieces of meat and Lana ate some, only to throw up and spend the rest of the day feeling sorry for herself. After that she made her mind set on being a pull vegetarian and hasn't so much as tasted a morsel of meat…and now that's all wasted. She has no choice but to drink blood for the rest of forever.

"It is your choice." Carlisle said. Lana's head snapped up, she had forgotten that he was speaking.

"Huh?" Seemed to be the only think she could get out.

"If you would like to stay with me and my family, it is your choice." He repeated.

_Do I have another choice_, Lana thought sarcastically. Where else was she supposed to go? She had no idea what it meant to be a vampire; she had no idea what she could and couldn't do.

"I'll stay." She whispered, whipping her hands on her jeans. The blood refused to come off. Was this what it would always be like? Getting hungry and killing animals everyday and living for eternity knowing that you just took away the life of something. Never having to sleep seems even worse. No escaping the reality of what you are. Lana always loved to dream, it was the only place where she could escape and pretend that she wasn't an orphan with no one to care for her.

By the time they reached the house, the sun was going down. Carlisle opened the door for her and Lana took a tentative step inside; she didn't want to get blood on the rugs.

Esme was there to greet them at the bottom of the stairs, and Lana could hear pages turning from somewhere upstairs. Edward must be reading, she concluded.

"Can I take a shower?" Lana asked, interrupting Carlisle and Esme's conversation.

"Yes, of course." Esme said and pointed upstairs. "You may use the bathroom upstairs, the third door to the right."

"Thanks." Lana said as she headed up the stairs.

"Lana," Carlisle called. Lana turned and raised an impatient eyebrow, she really want to get the scent of _killer_ off of her.

"When you finish, I think that it would be best to discuss your powers."

She nodded slowly, remembering Carlisle's earlier words on how some vampires have special powers. Apparently, she has the power of fire which, Carlisle had explained, is why her body temperature wasn't freezing cold like a vampire's should be but it wasn't exactly as warm as a human's. "Sure." She said before walking up the rest of the steps.

Inside the bathroom, Lana undressed and cursed as she turned to the mirror.

Lana stared in the mirror longer than she had ever stared at herself before, wondering who the girl was; certainly it wasn't her. The girl seemed so smooth, so pale…so perfect. Everything thing that use to define Lana wasn't there anymore. Her brown hair was silkier, softer than she remembered, and fell in gentle waves past her waist. The freckles that had previously dotted across her nose, cheeks, shoulders, and arms were gone, as was the little mole she had on the side of her neck.

Who was this girl? Lana thought. Her previously blue eyes were red, looking like a mixture of blood and water. Her skin was porcelain white and smooth, no wrinkles or imperfections. Even her scars were gone. Everything that made her Lana was gone, everything that had molded her into the person she was, every mark on her body was gone.

She hated it.

How could anyone be so beautiful yet so repulsive at once.

The only mark on her body was the almost unnoticeable crescent on the side of her neck. She remembered that it was in the exact place the flames had started burning; where the man had bitten her. For a moment she hated Carlisle and Esme for coming there while the man was _feeding_, they should have just ignored the man and let him suck her dry. Death is better than immortality. Instantly, Lana felt guilty. Carlisle and Esme were good people. The man was the one who ran away when he saw them. Esme and Carlisle were kind enough to take her in instead of leaving her to wake up alone and start killing humans.

Humans, she thought and looked in the mirror again. I'm not human. Not human, not alive…not Lana Mills.

Lana Mills was the girl with scars that each told a story, either funny or sad, and Lana Mills a face full of freckles. Lana Mills had her mother's freckles and her dad's blue eyes. Being able to look in the mirror and know that her parents had something that they were able to pass onto her for her to remember them by would always make Lana be able to smile but now she doesn't have that pleasure anymore.

Seeing her body without freckles bothered her more than she would ever have imagined. Lana had lived almost eighteen years with a face and body full of freckles, and now it felt like being stuck in the body of a stranger. Yes, when Lana was young she did have thoughts on what she would look like if she didn't have freckles but freckles had always been her defining trait. Lana had always been recognized as that _"girl with the freckles."_

Who was she now? _"That girl with the bloody red eyes."_?

She pulled her arm back, taking more look at the flawless girl before her fist made impact with the glass.


End file.
